…I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! (Phi 1:20 MSG)
Copyright © 2019 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
In my last blog, I mentioned being in the Philippines. On that trip, one thing that really caught me off guard, was how hard it was to try to blend in. For instances, when in a grocery store I was looking for chili to put on hot dogs. They took me to the hot sauce isle. Then trying to speak their language was a disaster most of the time. They have a phrase there when you are trying to speak a foreign language, and doing a poor job of it, your nose bleeds. My bled a lot! The most difficult part was trying to accept how they do things there. At times, it felt like a part of me was dying. To quote Seinfeld, “If the two worlds collide, the George you know, will no longer exist!”
Going through this experience made me think of someone trying to live for God, and trying to fit in with the world. It doesn’t work, and usually, someone will get hurt. You! As it turns out God doesn’t think too much of it either. In Rev. 3:16 it says that God would rather you be hot or cold. And if you insist on being lukewarm, He will spit you out of his mouth.
So this very day make a decision. Accept God, and live for him, or don’t. That way, people who encounter you will know what to expect from you. And if you try not to make that decision today, I assure you, as the days move closer to the last one, you will be forced to.
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
Traveling to new places can be exciting, exhilarating, and exuberant. It can also be daunting, especially when your phone doesn’t work. One of my mother’s friends said, before my trip to the Philippines, that he couldn’t even find the airport in his home town, much less one 7000 miles away. Trust me, there were many times when I was praying, a lot. Especially when I arrived and couldn’t find my host family. Turned out, United had started using a different terminal in Manilla 3 days before my arrival.
Trusting God, and walking with him can be very similar. That is why it is important to know God’s voice. To be able to hear it when the noises of life are deafening. The only way to get good at it is to practice e, a lot! It doesn’t come easy because we are used to listening to ourselves or to others. The best way to know God’s voice is to know God. To know his word as well. That way when his Spirit whispers into your spirit, you will know it’s him.
When you get this practice into your life, you and God can go anywhere with ease and have many great adventures together. Rom. 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (NIV)
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
In Exodus 14:14-18 it says when the people heard they were scared. The Philistines writhed and trembled; Yes, even the head men in Edom were shaken, and the big bosses in Moab. Everybody in Canaan panicked and fell faint. Dread and terror sent them reeling.
Even today, people are watching believers of God. They are watching to see how life with God is. How it works. Does it work? Sometimes I wonder if they are watching to see the people of God fail as if hoping for a wreck at a NASCAR race. Believing in God does not guaranty a perfect life, but it does help your attitude stay calm while going through life, because you have peace knowing the one who loves you the most is in control.
In the Old Testament, the people of the land waited to see disaster come upon God’s people, but what they saw was His mighty hand. God fed them, they did not go hungry. He led them, they did not get lost. They did not get cold, nor hot. They did not thirst for He gave them water. They did not wither and die in the desert but lived. God is still providing for his people today, so his people can live.
Accept God, and begin to enjoy living, and while living your life you will experience his love. It’s amazing!
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
I was going through my father’s papers the other day. I had to keep some of them, but most of them were old records about his life that were no longer of value, so I shredded them. While going through that process I thought about a man’s life, and the summation of it all. Is the end result a bag of shredded documents? I hope not.
Our lives, our legacies should live on after we are said and done. The love we showed others should still be echoing off the walls of their hearts. The kind deeds we expressed should still be bringing smiles to the ones who received them. Love, is the only thing that will endure to the end. Knowing this, it becomes paramount that we learn how to love unconditionally. The only way to do that is to fall in love with the One who is love, and that is God.
“The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love–so you can’t know him if you don’t love.” (1Jo 4:8 MSG)
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
I have always said, “I would rather be one mile behind God than one inch in front of him!” But recently, I feel as though I am trying to catch my breath doing my best to keep up with him. It’s as if I am running late to the party, God has been inviting me to all year. I just didn’t see it. He was orchestrating a new season in my life, and I didn’t even notice him hanging the decorations.
God wants to bless his children. He desires to give them good gifts. Our responsibility is to be in a place in life to receive them. In step with God, desiring God, and no matter what happens around us continuing to focus on God. Not getting caught up in the everyday sludge that tries to pull us down and overcome us.
“Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven.” (Jam 1:17 MSG)
Watch your door step. It’s the season of gift giving. God could be trying to give you a gift. Don’t allow it to be taken by the devil’s porch piracy program!
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
Like clothing, put on love before leaving the house. Others will appreciate it.
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
I was looking for my leftover Christmas cards when I came across a Father’s Day card that never got sent this year, because he passed the previous month. It caused me to pause and think about words unsaid.
“People matter,” you’ve heard it said, but do you act like it? Do you take the time for the ones who mean the most to you? Do you tell them how much you love and or appreciate them? I know, it’s hard when life seems to move at Mach 2, but it’s important. And the thing is, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cost anything at all.
“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.” (Phi 1:3 MSG)
In the season of giving, give words!
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
I once had a neighbor, who on the way to the hardware mega store asked, “Why are you so different?” I had helped them with several needs after they had moved into their new home. He asked, I told him. The truth appealed to him and his wife, and they accepted Jesus.
Do people in your world know you believe in God? Can they tell you have accepted Jesus Christ and you live your life for him? Do they think you are a Jesus freak, or a normal person who happens to love God, a lot?
Jesus hung out with people, who the Pharisees judged as “sinners”. Jesus called them people who needed his love. This means that even though Jesus spoke about his Father in heaven, and believing in him, the people still wanted to be around him. They were drawn to him, because he showed love. Jesus met them where they were. He didn’t change his actions or message when in the presence of people of the world, but turned up the love!
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world But that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world Than I am defined by the world. (Joh 17:15-16 MSG)
We would be wise to follow Jesus’ example. People will be drawn to us because of our love, and then they will be interested in hearing our message of Jesus.
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
I was playing cards the other night with some friends. One lady kept getting great hands. I said, “You are blessed, and highly favored!” We all laughed, but then the very next round she got another great hand. I said it again. After realizing that she was doing great, I quit saying it about her and begin professing it for myself. I started getting good hands.
Yes, I know, it was a card game, but I sensed truth was again revealed to me. We have power in the words we say. Blessings and curses can come from the same source, our mouths. Being blessed and highly favored is more than mere words. It’s a way of life. It’s being with the Lord and the Lord being with you. It’s desiring him more and his will for your life above all other things. That’s how Mary, the mother of Jesus lived.
“And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” (Luk 1:28 KJV+)
Are you blessed, and highly favored? I hope so.
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
brady, mark a. 